The present invention relates to a transporting device for mass articles.
More particularly, it relates to a transporting device for mass articles, in particular package covers for use in drying furnaces for drying and/or jelling of varnished and/or coated surfaces.
In particular it relates to a transporting device which has two endless rotatable transporting elements extending parallel at a distance from one another, so that the mass articles are guided between them from an inlet station to an outlet station individually in receiving grooves.
A transporting device of the above mentioned general type is disclosed for example in the European patent document EP 0 100 427. In this device the transportation of the package covers is performed by transporting chains which rotate paternoster-like endless over chain wheels and are provided laterally with a plurality of receiving pockets with grooves for receiving the covers. For securing the covers in the region of the straight transporting paths a four-point guide is provided. The guide is composed of lateral receiving pockets and two 90-degree-arrangement stationary guiding rods. In the deviation region of the transporting chains, the covers are supported with an edge region on a circular-arc-shaped supporting surface. In the practice such a transporting system is prone to instability despite an additional and technically expensive transporting chain guide, and it is disadvantageous for the whole working process. During disturbances in the transporting system, such as for example cover jamming or elongation of a chain strand, the joint support of the chain wheels arranged in pairs in a transporting strand prevents the post-clamping or change of an individual chain strand. Instead both chain strands together with the receiving pockets mounted on them must be dismounted and again oriented. As a rule it results in undesirably high stoppage time as well as stoppage in transporting operations and furnace operation.